As human beings, we are imperfect creatures, saved only by the grace of God. People often set themselves up by placing expectations on friends, family, etc. without fully pondering on their capacity to live up to them. Although it is not our fault that they fail to live up to our expectations, we should be sagacious enough to realize that this sort of human fallibility exists inside of the entire human population. Instead of dwelling on the faults and idiosyncrasies of others, we should examine ourselves and realize that the in the grand scheme of things we all come up human.

We have been endowed by our creator with a vast array of gifts, but perfection is not one of them. At 28, I am still learning some of the life’s lessons that I should have learned eons ago. I have been disappointed by friends and family members. But who do I really have to blame? As long as you are alive, you will have people who will let you down; the trick is to weather each occurrence with equanimity.

My mentor, Dr. Rodney Washington, always tells me stories about the conversations that he used to have with his mentor. Periodically, his mentor would admonish him for attempting to be perfect in his academic and personal endeavors because as he would say “In the end, we all come up human.” No matter how you attempt to balance the equation by leading a perfect life morally, professionally, or financially, we all come up short in some area of our lives. This is one of the inevitable sureties of life.

Through the vicissitudes of life, we learn to adhere to Murphy’s Law, “Anything that can happen, will.” We all have experienced times in our lives when we think to ourselves, “Lord, can it get any worse than this?” I have had many storms in my life and some have been my own doing. Through these storms, I have come to realize that I have the power to rebuke them. I remember hearing a story of an African nationalist who was kidnapped and tortured by a rival clan. When he was finally liberated by his comrades, they asked him how he was able to endure such hardship. His explanation was that although he did not have control over the pain and suffering that his tormentors levied against him, they could not control the way he endured or internalized these events. He counted it all joy and endured it as if he were a modern day reincarnation of Jesus of Nazareth.

I have come to grips with my own shortcomings and also those of others. Placing undo expectations on family and friends can be a dangerous thing. Like the old saying goes, “Never put your trust in men, because they will let you down every time.” Nowadays, the only seemingly safe thing to do would be to trust only you, and still a lot of us can not even do that.

About The Author - Matthew Lynch   All Articles By This Author

Matthew Lynch is an Exceptional Education Teacher, owner of Lynch Consulting Group, LLC and a Doctoral Candidate at Jackson State University. He is also the author of Closing the Racial Academic Achievement Gap, and a children's book, entitled Matthew and the Money Tree. Mr. Lynch is a contributing columnist for Renaissance Man Magazine, Bahiyah Women's Magazine and Emerging Minds Magazine, etc. Born and raised in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, he currently resides in Jackson, Mississippi.
Please visit his blog at www.matthews-musings.blogspot.com.

PRINT THIS PAGE    E-MAIL PAGE    DISCUSS ARTICLE    ALL ARTICLES    TAKE A QUIZ

Web www.mybrotha.com